Network interface devices, sometimes referred to as NICs are provided in devices to allow the devices to output and/or receive data, often in the form of packets.
The complexity of processing on some NICs has increased substantially to the point where entire applications may be executed on the NIC. Complex operations such as capture, flow steering, telemetry, firewalling are being deployed on NICs.
Regardless of the complexity or otherwise of operations performed by a NIC, it is desired that the NIC be configured to only execute the firmware or computer code which is intended.